The United Nations security council has added Ansar al Sharia in Benghazi and Ansar al Sharia Dernah (collectively known as Ansar al Sharia Libya--although Ansar al Sharia also operates in Tripoli and other western Libyan cities) to the Al Qaeda Sanctions List. Last week, I discussed, in detail, how Ansar al Sharia Libya is connected to al Qaeda. In the posts, I provided detailed evidence that has been confirmed by the United Nations.

The Islamic State (IS) has released pictures today showcasing one of their newest wilayats (provinces), the aptly-named "Wilayat Barqah". The Arabic word "barqah" correlates to the Libyan region of Cyrenaica, which incorporates the eastern half of Libya. As such, this wilayat is largely in the eastern Libyan port city of Dernah, where the local IS group, Majlis Shura Shabaab al Islam, operates.

The Long War Journal has covered the other new declared province of the Islamic State, "Wilayat Saynaa (Sinai)" here.

The images were disseminated on Twitter by Islamic State supporters after being posted elsewhere on the Internet. The jihadist group has taken to releasing its propaganda via its supporters on Twitter, as the majority of its official accounts are continuously being suspended by the social media site.

The pictures showcase the oath of allegiance (bayah in Arabic) to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and the Islamic State. The photos then proceed to showcase a rather large parade of vehicles presumably belonging to the aforementioned Majlis Shura Shabaab al Islam--which has previously already given bayah to al Baghdadi. This parade likely happened in Dernah, as the Islamic State has no real operational capabilities outside of there. As such, these photos are more than likely playing the propaganda role of trying to make it seem like the Islamic State has a large presence throughout Libya. While the Islamic State also released pictures showing "martyrs" from fighting in Benghazi, they are overshadowed in that city by Ansar al Sharia and their allies. Ansar al Sharia is a group heavily connected to al Qaeda that operates in both Benghazi and Dernah (among other cities). However, Ansar al Sharia, is not that influential in Dernah. It has also been reported that the Islamic State took responsibility for car bombs against the embassies of the UAE and Egypt in Tripoli, Libya. However, Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan, the UAE's foreign minister, has blamed Ansar al Sharia and Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn); the latter being an allied group to Ansar al Sharia that has taken over Tripoli.

In an interview @MaliWitness did with a member of Majlis Shura Shabaab al Islam, the member confirms that only his group swore bayah to the Islamic State inside Dernah. The member says that Ansar al Sharia and Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade, another group operating in Dernah, have not pledged bayah to al Baghdadi. As all three groups control various parts of Dernah, it is unlikely the entire city gave bayah to al Baghdadi. Press reports saying that the city belongs to the Islamic State are therefore not entirely true.

The first case is above with Abu al Abed, who, as the tweet says, has ties to both Ansar al Sharia Tunisia and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Some of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's most senior leaders have known al Qaeda ties, and at least two of them previously served as important al Qaeda operatives in Europe. The group's leadership openly praises al Qaeda and the organization's social media is littered with pro-al Qaeda messages. Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's Twitter account, before it was suspended, was known to re-tweet official messages disseminated by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's (AQIM) official media wing, Al Andalus Foundation. AQIM leaders have repeatedly praised and offered advice to Ansar al Sharia Tunisia.

Moreover, there are several credible accounts asserting that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar al Sharia in both Tunisia and Libya cooperate. The Tunisian Prime Minister said to Reuters, "There is a relation between leaders of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar al Sharia in Libya."Abu al Abed, according to Magharebia, is a member of both Ansar al Sharia Tunisia and AQIM. It should be noted that dual-hatted memberships in al Qaeda groups are not a rarity. Take, for example, Mustafa al Yazid or "Saeed al Masri". Al Masri, a longtime member of al Qaeda and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan in 2010. Magharebia notes that al Abed fights in Mali and was featured in an official AQIM video. In this video, he calls on jihadists to travel to North Africa when he states,"If you love to open up Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and you want to open Andalusia [Muslim Spain], come here."

The second case is that of Mohammad Wasia, which as @MaliWitness states, allegedly had links to Ansar al Sharia Libya and was killed in Mali. Upon researching into this teenager, I found a tweet confirming he fought in Mali by a jihadist figure. The tweet is below:

For those who cannot read Arabic, the tweet says, "Mohammad al Wasia was born in 1993 in the city of Benghazi. He left for jihad in the land of al Azwad, Mali. Our brother Mohammad, who's nickname was Abu Makhls al Libi...Mohammad [attended] one of the camps." This same account later posted a eulogy picture for Wasia. Similarly, an online forum was also found to be discussing his death in Mali.

Tracking Terrorismalso claimed Wasia fought in AQIM's al Furqan Brigades and was killed fighting in the remote north of Mali. Tracking Terrorismclaims that Wasia fought alongside Abu Osama al Jazairi, also known as Belkacem Zouadi. Zouadi had a long history of deep al Qaeda ties before his death in Mali in 2013 by French forces. Algerian-born, Zouadi would travel to Afghanistan in the 1990's to fight the Afghan communist regime. It was here where he met Ibn al Shaykh al Libi, who would later head the infamous Khalden training camp of al Qaeda. Afterwards, he traveled to Sudan and met with Usama Bin Laden until again travelling to Afghanistan to train in al Qaeda camps. He then found himself in Algeria as part of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Fighting (GSPC), the precursor to AQIM. Tracking Terrorismclaims that during this time he had personal correspondence with Aymen al Zawahiri. Eventually, Zouadi made his way up to the Shura Council of AQIM and would become one of the best trainers for al Qaeda forces in North Africa. If Wasia was, in fact, a member of Ansar al Sharia Libya and was fighting alongside a longtime al Qaeda veteran at the time of his death, this further highlights how Ansar al Sharia plays into the dynamics of al Qaeda in this region. Operational ties between al Qaeda groups is also not a rarity, as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and al Shabaab have, at one point, established operational ties; various groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan (i.e al Qaeda, the Taliban, Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Turkestan Islamic Party, Haqqani Network, Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, etc), all operate as a syndicate and party lines are often blurred; or even Ansar al Sharia Libya, AQIM, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and the Muhammad Jamal Network coordinating together in Libya--which is an interesting fact in and of itself in regards to Ansar al Sharia's al Qaeda connections. The Muhammad Jamal Network, as The Long War Journalnotes, "is run by an Egyptian who was trained by al Qaeda in the 1980s and has long been a subordinate to Zawahiri. In the 1990s, Jamal served as a commander in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which merged with al Qaeda." It is also thought that Jamal is working to establish his own al Qaeda branch and has training camps in both Egypt and Libya. If Ansar al Sharia did, in fact, work with three known al Qaeda groups in the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, this adds another level to their operational ties with al Qaeda.

As I mentioned on Tuesday, several groups try to hide their al Qaeda affiliations until they are ready to come public with them. For example, Usama bin Laden instructed Mukhtar Abu al Zubayr, the late head of al Shabaab, to hide Shabaab's ties to al Qaeda. And Jabhat al Nusra, al Qaeda in Syria, did something similar where they went official with their al Qaeda ties when al Baghdadi tried to assimilate them into al Qaeda in Iraq.It is becoming more and more evident that Ansar al Sharia is al Qaeda in Libya. UPDATE: Thanks to @MaliWitness again, yet another example of Ansar al Sharia's al Qaeda connections have came into the light.

The man above is Mahmoud al Wuhayshi, who went by the kunya "Abu Muhajir al Libi". According to this Facebook post about his death, he was killed fighting at the Benina International Airport in Benghazi. Fighting at the airport has been raging for quite some time, as Ansar al Sharia and their allies in the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council are vying for control of the airport against the former Libyan general Khalifa Hiftar. For more information on this, see my article at The Long War Journalhere.

Al Libi, as the aforementioned Facebook post mentions, was an Al Qaeda veteran, having fought for AQIM in Algeria and Mali for at least six years. It seems that the fact of spotting Ansar al Sharia guys fighting alongside AQIM guys is also true for the opposite. It would appear that AQIM has sent guys to help Ansar al Sharia and their allies against Hiftar's forces in Benghazi. This only serves to further highlight Ansar al Sharia's ties into the al Qaeda network.

Al Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, has released a new video showing them overrunning a Somali-government position in a town in the Lower Shebelle region. The Lower Shebelle has long been a stronghold of the Somali jihadist group. However, on Oct. 6, African Union forces said they drove Shabaab out of their stronghold of Barawe. This is also the region where Shabaab's emir, Ahmed Godane (also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubayr), was killed in a US drone strike on Sept. 2.

The drone strike occurred around the same time Somali and African Union forces launched Operation Indian Ocean, a renewed offensive to drive Shabaab out of their strongholds. Despite the operation and despite being driven from Barawe, the group still remains an active threat in southern Somalia, as well as in Mogadishu. On Oct 12, Shabaab launched a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack in the Somali capital that killed seven. On the same day, the groupattempted an assassination of the head of Somali Channel Television.

In the video above, Shabaab showcases a complex attack on a village in the Lower Shebelle. The attack, which included attacking the town from two different sides, appears to have occurred around dawn. The attackers assault the village with AK assault rifles, RPG's, and PK machine guns. Throughout the attack, the voices of Mustafa al Yazid, or Saeed al Masri. Al Masri, a longtime member of al Qaeda and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan in 2010. The video also features a short excerpt from a longer speech by the infamous Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Zarqawi was the founder of al Qaeda in Iraq and was ruthless in killing American and coalition forces before his death in 2006.

Retakes Kudha Island Al Shabaab has also reportedly retaken the incredibly strategic Kudha Island in the Lower Juba region. The island, which has changed hands at least twice in the past few months, is close to Shabaab's former stronghold of Kismayo. Before losing it a few months ago, Shabaab controlled the island for seven years. Business Standard quotes a local elder as saying, "There was heavy fighting inside Kudha village. Al-Shabab fighters entered from two directions and pushed out the local forces." It is unclear how many Juba forces were killed in the attack.

This strategy is very similar to the one that was showcased in the above video--attacking from two different directions. This also appears to be one of the groups largest, if not the largest attack since Ahmed Godane was killed. The island is very important to Shabaab, as they have used it in the past as a staging location for various illicit goods they use to fund their activities.

The Islamic State has released a video showing a weapons manufacturing facility in or near Fallujah. The video was uploaded to YouTube and then disseminated on Twitter by its supporters and members. The terrorist organization has taken to disseminating their propaganda this way after the social media site began to crackdown on affiliated posts and handles.

The video was released by its Wilayat Fallujah, which encompasses the city of Fallujah and other nearby towns and villages west of Baghdad. Wilayat Fallujah is one of three wilayats, or states, that make up the Iraqi province of Anbar. Wilayat Fallujah is joined by Wilayat Anbar and Wilayat al Furat (Euphrates Province).

The video details the Islamic State manufacturing several mortar rounds, rockets, and warheads for these weapons. The facility is shown in a reporter fashion and at the end, the terrorist group showcases these weapons by firing off some of the rockets. The group has named these rockets the "Fatah" rockets.

This weapons manufacturing facility is similar to one that was shown last month in Babil Province. In that video, mortars, shells, and rockets were also shown being manufactured just south of Baghdad. These videos showcase that the Islamic State, like other groups, are able to internally develop weapons to be used on the battlefield.

These Do-It-Yourself weapons have become commonplace in Iraq and Syria and especially in the latter. Syrian rebel groups and the al Qaeda-affiliate Jabhat al Nusrah regularly post pictures and videos showing DIY mortars, rockets, and armored vehicles. The Kurdish forces are widely known to create their own DIY tanks, as well.